A Steele for Christmas (16 page)

S
tacey took a sip of her wine and smiled up at the older gentleman who Eli had introduced her to moments earlier. She liked Harry Farmer. He was a lovable old man who didn’t mind telling that he was still in love with his wife of almost fifty years, was proud of the three children she’d given him and that he simply adored his six grandkids. And he’d even gone on to say that now that Eli had shown he’d matured and settled down he would throw his support Eli’s way for the office of president of the business council.

She continued to smile although deep inside, her heart was breaking, something she’d sworn she would never let happen to her again. But she hadn’t counted on a man like Eli entering her life and taking over her mind, body, soul, but most important, her heart.

It had been two weeks since the night they’d officially announced their engagement and they’d rarely spent any time apart since. She spent a lot of nights over at his place and they usually made love before sharing a ride to work. Then in the afternoons, they would ride home together. On occasion they’d gone to movies, dinners and concerts in the afternoons. He even had season tickets to football games. She would have to admit that she enjoyed their time together immensely.

At times, Stacey felt she should submit Eli’s name to the Academy to be nominated for an Oscar. He was definitely playing the part of a love-smitten fiancé. No matter where they went or who they were with, if you didn’t know any better—and most people didn’t—you would assume he was a man deeply in love. Sad thing was that she did know better. Eli did not truly love her. He was only acting.

But she was not. Whenever they made love she put her heart, body and soul into it. Even when she was with him meeting his friends and other family members, she was sincere when she expressed her love for him. Only thing, he would never know just how sincere she was.

Even Eden and Brittany had won special places in her heart. Both had welcomed her to the family and offered their services in helping her plan the wedding, which was less than a month away. Tonight they were attending the business council’s annual Thanksgiving party. All Eli’s brothers, except for Tyson, were entrepreneurs and were in attendance. His parents were attending as well. Although Drew had turned the running of his trucking company over to Gannon, Drew was still somewhat involved.

“You okay?” Eli asked her moments later when Harry Farmer had moved on and they were standing alone.

She glanced up at him. “Yes, I’m fine.”

She was lying. In all truth she wasn’t. People would often stop by to comment that they made a beautiful couple and to wish them well on their upcoming marriage. She would smile and thank them while knowing their well wishes were for nothing.

“It seems everyone loves your ring,” he whispered close to her ear.

She smiled as she gazed down at her hand. Several women
had
complimented her about her ring. It was definitely an attention getter. “I can see why, Eli, it’s beautiful.”

“And it was meant just for you. It’s a ring that a man would give the woman he loves.”

Then why am I wearing it?
She was tempted to ask. Instead, she glanced around before looking back at him. “We’re alone, Eli. You don’t have to say something like that to me now.”

“Yes, I do.”

She glanced up, giving him a questioning look when a voice behind them cut in. “Well, well, if it isn’t Eli, the stud.”

Eli glared at the woman standing in front of him at the same time he wrapped his arms around Stacey’s waist to bring her closer into his arms. “Liz, what are you doing here?” He of all people knew how vindictive his former lover could be.

“Same thing as you,” the woman said haughtily. “I had no idea you would be here tonight.”

Eli knew she was lying through her teeth. “Fine. Now you know. Please make it your business to keep your distance.” The last time he’d seen her he had threatened her with a restraining order if she didn’t curtail her stalking tendencies.

“Touchy, aren’t you?” She then glanced over at Stacey and sneered. “You don’t know me, however, I can’t help but notice your ring. If it’s what I think it is, then my advice is for you to think twice about it. Eli Steele is not the marrying kind so if I were you, I’d wonder what’s in it for him.”

To Eli’s surprise, Stacey chuckled. He glanced down at her and saw the way she lifted her chin and stiffened her spine. “Oh, I can tell you what’s in it for him. I’m in it for him. He’ll be getting
me
. Do yourself a favor and don’t run behind a man who evidently doesn’t want you. Now if you’ll excuse us.”

Taking his hand, they walked off leaving Liz standing there, speechless.

Eli opened the door to his home trying hard to decipher Stacey’s mood. She hadn’t said much on the ride home and had been awfully quiet. Although she had put Liz in her place tonight, he had a feeling she wasn’t happy about it. And he had an even stronger feeling that she was upset. Mainly with him.

He closed the door behind them and when she headed off toward the bedroom he reached out and snagged her hand. “I think we need to talk.”

“What about?”

“What happened tonight at the party with Liz.”

She waved off his suggestion with her other hand. “No need. I think my performance took care of it. Your bid for the presidency is still safe, Eli.”

He released her hand and slid his into his pocket as irritation rushed through him. “Do you think that’s all I care about? Becoming president of the business council?”

She appeared confused by his question. “Yes, of course. What else do you care about?”

He knew she wasn’t intentionally trying to come off as a smart aleck. She actually believed what she was saying, and he couldn’t very much blame her for thinking that way since he’d given her no reason to think otherwise. “Plenty, and I think we need to talk about just what those things are,” he said, leaning against the door.

She sighed deeply, wearily. “There’s nothing to talk about, Eli. If you’re worried what that woman said has upset me, then don’t be. I’ve known that you are a man who is truly not the marrying kind. That isn’t a secret. I also know what I agreed to do and that what we have is a business arrangement and nothing more.”

She paused a moment and then added softly, “What she said is true. There is something in it for you and I’m okay with it. Because in the end I’ll take the same advice I gave her. I don’t intend to run behind a man who doesn’t want me.”

Her words gave him pause. Was that a hint that perhaps she had feelings for him but assumed he didn’t have any for her? He moved away from the door to come stand in front of her and placed his hands at her waist. “And what if I said that I wanted you?”

She rolled her eyes. “You always want me. It’s been that way between us from the start.”

That was true. “Then what if I said I want the one thing that you don’t want?” he asked.

“Which is?”

“An emotional entanglement.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment as her brow furrowed. And then she asked, “And what’s your definition of an emotional entanglement?”

“It involves a relationship that goes beyond the bedroom.”

She stared at him a moment and then she shook her head like she didn’t believe him. “Why? Why would you want something like that?”

He had no trouble telling her the reason and hoped to God that she believed him. “Because I’ve fallen in love with you, Stacey. And since we seem to communicate on more of a physical level than an emotional one, I’m going to show you just what I mean.”

Stacey was silent, basically in a daze as she watched Eli begin removing his clothes. First he eased his jacket off his massive shoulders and tossed it aside at the same time he kicked off his shoes. He then began unbuttoning his shirt.

She was stunned by his actions as well as by the words he’d just spoken. Had he just said he had fallen in love with her? She shook her head as if to clear it, while thinking she was definitely hearing things. There was no way he loved her. She tried to focus on what he was doing, watching as he jerked the tail of his shirt from his slacks.

“You heard me right,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. By now his hand was tugging his pants down a pair of powerful-looking thighs, thighs that had ridden her numerous times to more orgasms than she could count. Shivers rushed through her at the memories.

“That night I asked you again to marry me out on Tyson’s patio, I had a reason for doing so. The first time I asked you to marry me was for all the wrong reasons. That night I asked you for the right one. And if you recall, I told you I loved you that night was well. I meant it then and I mean it now. I realized it the moment I walked into Cohen’s party and saw you. It hit me like a ton of bricks but it hit me nonetheless. My head couldn’t deny what my heart was saying.”

When he was completely naked he reached out and pulled her into his arms and captured her mouth. He silenced the
Oh
off her lips in a hot, open-mouth kiss that she felt in every part of her body, especially in the area at the juncture of her thighs.

She recalled very little after that, especially when he removed the clothes off her body as quickly and efficiently as only he knew how to do. And when he had stripped her of every single piece, he swept her off her feet into his arms and headed for the bedroom.

The moment their bodies connected on the bed, they made love uncontrollably. Whatever snapped inside of Eli snapped inside of Stacey as well. Desire stroked all over her skin and his tongue followed, licking her, tasting her, driving her over the edge and then snatching her back right before she could tumble.

The nipples of her breasts stiffened even more under the assault of his practiced tongue and the area between her legs was wet from the attention of his fingers. Moments later his mouth replaced his fingers and she screamed out his name.

“Eli!”

“I’m here, baby, and I don’t intend on leaving you or letting you leave me,” he whispered huskily.

And then he was pulling her up on all fours and her pulse quickened, her heart pounded in her chest and heat rushed through her bloodstream when he hovered behind her, grinding his hips against her rounded backside. She felt all of him, as he rubbed his shaft over her hips, seeking the entry to her womanhood from behind.

He found it and she felt the heat of his chest on her back when he mounted her that way, his strong legs and thick thighs locking her body to his. “I love making love to you, Stacey,” he whispered in a heated breath close to her ear. “But even more important is that I love you in every way a man can possibly love a woman, even this way. Feel the love. Feel the emotional entanglement.”

And then he thrust inside of her wrapping his arms around her in such a way that her hips were rendered immobile. He began pounding into her hard. Fast. Deep.

Eli gritted his teeth as he continued to make love to Stacey, frantically, desperately and wildly. Nothing could have prepared him for the intensity of this lovemaking and he knew as feverish as what they were doing was, they were not having sex. They were making love. They would always make love when they came together this way.

And then an explosion hit her body. The satiny cheeks of her backside began to tremble in a force that nearly bucked him off her. But he held on, continued to thrust inside of her. And when she screamed his name, his body reacted and he erupted and kept on coming inside the woman he loved. The only woman he could ever love.

When she screamed his name again, he knew there was no way she could assume there was no emotional entanglement between them again.

Stacey couldn’t move. Even when Eli lowered her body down on the bed then joined her to wrap her into his arms, she was too exhausted to do anything but breathe and that was barely. OMG. That had to be lovemaking at its most intense. Now her body felt limp, drained but totally satisfied.

“Did I make my point?”

She heard Eli’s question but was too weak to lift her head to gaze at him. Yes, he had made his point, although it was still hard for her to believe. “You love me,” she said in a voice that still sounded stunned.

“Yes, I love you and one day I will hear you tell me that you love me back.”

Stacey fought back the tears as she garnered the strength to lift her head to stare into the beauty of his green eyes. “I love you, Eli. I love you so much and not in a million years did I think you could love me back. I had accepted the kind of marriage we would have and knew after that year I would walk away. I wouldn’t be like Liz and run behind a man who didn’t want me.”

He reached out and caressed the side of her face with his fingers. “Now you know how much I want you and just how much I love you. To me, one is just as strong as the other. You are my life and on Christmas Day I intend to make you my forever wife.”

“So I’ll get a Steele for Christmas,” she said as her lips curled into a happy smile.

“Baby, you’ll have a Steele for the rest of your life. That, I promise you.” And then he lowered his head and captured her lips, sealing the vow he’d just made.

Christmas Day

E
li glanced around the room where his wedding reception was being held. The Steeles liked getting together and when the reason was a wedding, that made things even better. The small wedding he and Stacey planned had gotten kicked by the wayside when a number of people wanted to witness for themselves another one of Drew’s boys being taken off the bachelor list.

He looked over at his four remaining single brothers who were standing across the room with their cousin Vanessa, her husband, Cameron, and their eight-month-old son, Steele Cameron Cody. They had gotten over their irritation with him since they all liked Stacey. Besides, since all four were convinced what happened to him and Galen was a fluke and in no way would happen to them, they felt safe and secure in their bachelor status.

At the rehearsal dinner last night, his cousin Taylor had announced that she and her husband Dominic were expecting another child in the summertime, and everyone had celebrated that good news. And it was good to hear that Marcus, their cousin Chance’s oldest son was doing well at the university and had decided to go to law school. Eli was pleased to hear that.

Eli’s gaze shifted to his parents, namely his mother. She was happy. She’d been able to bag two daughters-in-law within a year’s time. That wasn’t bad. His marriage to Stacey had given his single brothers a slight reprieve, but he’d warned them not to get too comfortable. Their mother wouldn’t be satisfied until they were all happily married.

He shifted his gaze yet again to come to rest on Cohen, who was talking to Dee. He remembered what Stacey had told him about the couple, but for some reason, they didn’t seem too happy with each other now. He wondered what was going on with that.

He glanced down at his watch. Stacey had gone upstairs to change. They would be leaving for Paris in a few hours. Every time he thought about the fact that she was legally his wife, he felt a rush of heat consume him. She was everything he could possibly want in a woman.

A few days ago, he had presented her with a huge treasure chest and when she’d opened it she looked at him confused. Until he had explained that all the items inside the chest had been things he’d purchased from her shop for no apparent reason, other than to pretend he wanted to buy something just to see her. There were magazines he hadn’t read, candy bars he’d never eaten and a lot of other miscellaneous items that had probably totaled up to a lot of money that he didn’t consider as wasted. Seeing all the items collected made him realize that he had loved her even then.

And then he couldn’t help but chuckle at the time a couple of weeks ago when he and Stacey had traveled to Memphis to attend Dee’s parents’ anniversary party. He had made sure everyone, especially Wallace and Gail, had known just how much he loved and adored Stacey. He was certain he hadn’t left any doubt in anyone’s mind that not marrying Wallace Flowers was the best thing she could have done and the man really had done her a favor.

“Looking for me?”

He turned and smiled. His wife had surprised him and come from behind. He raked his gaze up and down her outfit. She was wearing a cute short red dress and a pair of black leather boots. Since he’d told her how much he enjoyed seeing her legs, she made it a point to show them to him every chance she got.

“Yes, I was looking for you,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “Are you ready to start our honeymoon, sweetheart?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yes, I’m more than ready.”

He lowered his head and kissed her and knew it was just one of many they would share during their lifetime together.